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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28221123">An Unexpected Eve</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisabeth_ist/pseuds/elisabeth_ist'>elisabeth_ist</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hannah, Not the Wolf [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A Quiet Christmas Eve Isn't That Much of a Tall Order, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Christmas, Christmas Eve, F/M, M/M, Not-So-Urban Fantasy, Pour One Out for Hannah, Werewolf Lore, Werewolves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:02:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,978</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28221123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisabeth_ist/pseuds/elisabeth_ist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A full moon on Christmas Eve wasn't on Hannah's wish list, but she's willing to roll with the punches. That is, until her brother Tom makes a surprising request just before the moon goes up – setting into motion a sequence of events that aren't exactly werewolf-approved. Set two years after <i>Hannah, Not the Wolf</i>.</p><p>***</p><p>Original work. Copyright © 2020 by elisabeth_ist (i.e., me).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hannah, Not the Wolf [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2067285</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>An Unexpected Eve</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The nice part was that Hannah didn’t have to go to church. The other nice part was that it wasn’t Christmas until tomorrow, so it didn’t really matter anyway.</p><p>“Oh, for Christ’s <em>sake</em>,” said her mother. She was very much not in the Christmas spirit, and this was only partly because Moe couldn’t find one of his nice shoes. The other, covered in scuff marks, had recently been retrieved from behind the dining room radiator.</p><p>“If I can’t find it, can I stay home?” Moe asked hopefully.</p><p>“No,” said Mrs. Cobham.</p><p>Hannah thought her mother looked lovely. She had put her hair back in a sleek bun, and she was wearing a silky dress in royal blue. Moe, on the other hand, looked like a grumpy, unwashed 13-year-old, which is exactly what he was.</p><p>Gulliver, who was 15, and in a phase where he didn’t say much unless you <em>really </em>pressed him, wandered into the living room, carrying Moe’s other shoe. “Under my bed,” he grunted. “Dunno how it got there.”</p><p>Their mother rolled her eyes to the heavens. “Look<em>,</em> boys, we’re late already – where’s your father? And does Tom have the car keys?”</p><p>Nobody answered.</p><p>Hannah, newly home from college, was lying on the couch under a blanket, her feet propped up on a cushion. She glanced down at the keys in the palm of her hand and smirked. Tom had left them on the coffee table a few hours ago; when he hadn’t come back to get them, she’d quietly stolen them, waiting to see if he would notice. Now she held them up like a trophy. Her mother took them gratefully.</p><p>“I don’t know <em>what </em>Father Gilbreth is going to think of us.”</p><p>“Well, he probably doesn’t have a very high opinion of us anyway,” said Tom, poking his head around the corner at last. “You know. Considering the last time we went to church was… oh, last Christmas? The one before?”</p><p>“Three years ago,” said Andrew, who remembered things like that. “And we stayed for about 20 minutes, because Moe felt sick. Or said he did.”</p><p>“That’s a big jump, 20 minutes to three hours. You sure we can handle this whole late-night mass thing?”</p><p>“You are <em>an adult</em>,” said Mrs. Cobham crossly, “and I expect you to <em>behave </em>like it.”</p><p>Tom rolled his eyes and did an exaggerated imitation of the expression on her face. Sometimes Hannah couldn’t believe that he was a senior in college. Or that he’d managed to get a girlfriend<em> – </em>her name was Lucy, and she would be arriving in Curnow on a bus late that night. Tom was supposed to pick her up after church.</p><p>Hannah’s father finally appeared. He didn’t look entirely happy; Hannah had a shrewd suspicion that he didn’t enjoy going to church any more than Moe did, and that the reason they’d “forgotten” to go for the past few years had a lot to do with him consciously avoiding it. She watched as he tried to smile.</p><p>“I guess we’d better head out,” he said. “Everyone ready? Anyone else missing a shoe?” He paused a second. “Hannah, you have everything you need?”</p><p>Hannah considered. There were things that were <em>nice </em>to have when you weren’t going to have opposable thumbs for a while, but there was nothing that was strictly <em>necessary</em>. However, since he’d asked –</p><p>“I can have the whole house, right?” she said. “Since no one’s going to be here?”</p><p>She watched her parents exchange glances and then pretend that they hadn’t. She got it; she did; but really – they weren’t even going to be home until midnight. By then, she’d be asleep in her room, and they could shut the door on her if they were worried about anything happening. Plus, nothing <em>had </em>happened for a while – more than a year, now, and they’d still been adjusting her dosage back then. As a rule, she still kept the door closed (she <em>had </em>to keep the door closed at college, or else they’d kick her out), but she was starting to feel more confident that at some point it might not be strictly <em>necessary</em>.</p><p>“Yeah, I guess so,” said her father at last. “As long as you make sure you’re in your room by twelve. There’s a clock around somewhere that’ll be within your line of sight, right?”</p><p>Hannah pointed to the TV in response. There was a little digital display on the DVD player.</p><p>“Are you going to watch something?”</p><p>“I guess.” There wasn’t going to be anything <em>good </em>on<em>; </em>it was all Christmas movies she’d seen a million times before, but it wasn’t like she was going to have anything else to do.</p><p>Her parents looked at her for a moment; she knew that they wanted to say something like “sorry,” but also that they knew not to. These days, they mostly understood that Hannah just needed to get on with it.</p><p>She gave them a sly smile. “Have fun at church.”</p><p>Tom and Andrew laughed. Moe gave Hannah a vicious-eyed glare as he was marched out the door, both shoes now firmly on his feet.</p><p>Then she was alone, and it was quiet.</p><p>Quiet had never been Hannah’s favorite thing, and it certainly wasn’t when it was this close. The trick to ignoring the mounting headache, she’d found, was literally any sort of distraction — people, television, coming up with exciting plans for the future. But people were best. She grabbed her phone from next to her and found her boyfriend’s name. Perhaps he could use a distraction too.</p><p>He picked up on the last ring.</p><p>“Topher?”</p><p>“Are you seriously <em>calling </em>me right now?”</p><p>His deep voice came out irritated, but Hannah knew he wasn’t, not really. It was part of who they were together. She annoyed him, and he annoyed her right back, and somehow underneath all of that, neither of them were very annoyed at all. At least, that was how Hannah looked at it. If you listened to Topher, he only put up with her because he was in love with her — due, of course, to some terrible flaw in his character that he had not yet been able to fix. Hannah always contested this. Then they usually kissed a lot.</p><p>“My family’s at church,” Hannah explained. “It’s boring here.”</p><p>“Ah,” said Topher. “So I’m supposed to make you <em>un</em>-bored. Right now. When we have less than an hour left.”</p><p>“Mmhmm. Tell me a story.”</p><p>“A story?”</p><p>Hannah sighed. “It’s almost <em>Christmas, </em>Topher. I’m sure you can come up with something<em>.</em> Like… your weird cousins are there, right? The ones with the ferrets? What are they doing tonight?”</p><p>“Being somewhere that is not my room. Ferrets included. Other than that, I could not say.”</p><p>“That’s a really bad story. I thought you were supposed to be an English major.”</p><p>“And I thought psych majors were supposed to be <em>tactful.</em>”</p><p>Hannah wrinkled her nose. She was only majoring in psychology because, as a sophomore, she’d had to pick <em>something</em>, and it was the subject she’d found most interesting so far. Topher was actually fond of the medieval literature he spent hours poring over. She found it unbelievably endearing.</p><p>“Oh, I didn’t tell you,” she said. “I’m switching majors. To ‘making my boyfriend tell me bedtime stories.’ My advisor says I have the most talent she’s ever seen. I could even graduate early.”</p><p>“That’ll earn you a living.”</p><p>“Shush. The pay is excellent<em>.</em>”</p><p>“Hmm.”</p><p>“You know it.”</p><p>“I guess you could do worse.”</p><p>“So… <em>will</em> you tell me a bedtime story?”</p><p>“Fine. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Hannah who had a tragic habit of calling people on the phone at completely unreasonable times. Her <em>very wise</em> boyfriend tried to warn her that this would someday be her undoing, but she didn’t listen to him. One Christmas Eve, she called him at a <em>particularly </em>inconvenient time for them both. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize that the Krampus was hiding in her house, waiting for just such an event. It opened its great goaty mouth and swallowed her whole. And that was the end of Hannah.” He paused. “It was terribly, terribly sad.”</p><p>Hannah scoffed. “That barely gets a C. I’m telling your professors.”</p><p>“It could be a true story.”</p><p>“The Krampus and I would be BFFs. I’ve been perfect all year. Also, I don’t think it eats people.”</p><p>There was a pause; Hannah knew he was Googling information about Krampus folklore. She must have been right, because he grunted. “You really expect my brain to be working right now?”</p><p>“Nah. But I love you anyway.”</p><p>“I love you, too.” There was deep sincerity there; she couldn’t have mistaken it if she’d tried. There was also a familiar mixture of exhaustion and anxiety — he was still newer at this than she was; it still hurt him in ways that it didn’t hurt her — and she knew she had to let him go.</p><p>She spoke more gently. “I’ll see you on the other side, okay?”</p><p>“Yeah. Tomorrow night.”</p><p>“Tomorrow night.”</p><p>They hung up at the same time. Hannah flipped through her texts for a while. Her friend Harry was on vacation in Hawaii with his family; there was a photo of him on the beach with his sisters, all wearing oversized sunglasses. She’d see him in a week, before they both headed back to school.</p><p>Her legs cramped, as they sometimes did around this time; she stretched them out. She turned on the TV and flipped through the channels, looking for something that might amuse her until midnight. <em>It</em><em>’s a Wonderful Life </em>would be starting soon. She remembered it being rather long, but it wasn’t in color, so she supposed that was her best option.</p><p>She was just admitting to herself that it was probably time to curl up on the floor with her arms around her knees when her phone buzzed. Tom.</p><p>“What the hell is wrong with you? How much time do you think I <em>have?</em><em>” </em>she hissed.</p><p>“Uh, five minutes, give or take?” said Tom. “I found that app you use. I checked. Dad totally forbade me to call you, but —”</p><p>“You’re <em>supposed</em> to be in church.”</p><p>“I ducked out. Look, I’ll make this short —”</p><p>“You’re going to have to.”</p><p>“– but Lucy texted me a couple minutes ago, and she got on the earlier bus by mistake. She’s going to be here in about an hour. I told her about the spare key in the mailbox, and she’ll let herself in. If you could just –”</p><p>“Tom, are you <em>kidding </em>me right now?”</p><p>“She <em>knows </em>about you; it’s not like she – ugh, Hannah, let me finish. I told her about, you know, how you like to watch your show, and she says she’ll go in my room and shut the door until we get back. I told her where it is. She likes books – she’ll just read or something.”</p><p>“Awesome. This isn’t going to be awkward at all.”</p><p>“There isn’t anywhere else she can <em>go</em>. I mean, I could send her to Jasper’s house, but I really don’t want her meeting Jasper without me, like, <em>there. </em>You know what he’s like. Look, she doesn’t even have to see you. You can get out of sight when you hear her at the door – she’s not even going to come into the living room; I’ll tell her not to — and everything will be fine and you can meet her in the morning.”</p><p>“Damn, you’re desperate.”</p><p>“It’s just that –” He sighed. “I really like her, Han.”</p><p>Hannah would have loved to discuss this more – there was an earnestness in Tom’s voice that did not appear very often — but at that precise moment, there came a very familiar twisting in her gut.</p><p>“Oh, fuck.”</p><p>“Oh no – are you –”</p><p>“Bye, Tom.”</p><p>“Okay, okay, I know, I’m sorry, but she can still – can’t she? Right?”</p><p>
  <em>“Good-bye.”</em>
</p><p>She had just enough time to toss her phone onto the sofa, slide onto the floor, and pull her arms tightly around her knees, forehead pressed up against them for dear life. Even after eleven years of this – more than half her life, now – this part sucked.</p><p>After, she hopped back up on the couch and wriggled until she was mostly beneath the blanket she’d been under before. It wasn’t very comfortable; it was generally hard to be comfortable when everything hurt. And there was always something that hurt more than the rest, that changed just a little bit wrong – tonight it was one of her back legs, the one on the left. She hated it when it was the legs.</p><p>She ignored it and shifted her attention to the movie, which had now begun. Due to her circumstances, she’d seen a <em>lot </em>of classic black-and-white films over the years – she’d become a dedicated fan in her own right. But she’d forgotten how good this one was. Even she did sometimes think George Bailey was a little too selfless for his own good.</p><p>After a short time, Hannah picked up the sound of footsteps making their way hesitantly across the gravel driveway. She shifted a little where she sat and looked uneasily toward the front hallway, which adjoined the living room. Had Tom actually told Lucy what the layout of their house was like, or was she going to come wandering in the moment she opened the door?</p><p>There came the sound of metal scraping the keyhole – first in one direction and then the other.</p><p>“<em>Damn </em>it, Thomas,” said a voice Hannah had never heard before. “You never told me I wouldn’t even be able to get into your damn <em>house</em>. What do I need to do, answer three riddles or something?”</p><p>Lucy tried again. And again. It was extremely frustrating to hear. Hannah couldn’t believe that Tom hadn’t explained that the door, like the rest of the house, was somewhat old and creaky, which meant that you needed to lean hard on it when you unlocked it. And it wasn’t like <em>Hannah </em>could do anything to help.</p><p>She heard the sound of a phone ringing – it seemed that Lucy had finally called her idiot brother. To Hannah’s surprise, though, it wasn’t Tom who answered, but Jasper Kennicott – one of Tom’s oldest friends.</p><p>“Yo. This Lucy?”</p><p>“Yes. Hi.” Lucy did not sound pleased. “Your <em>friend </em>was forced to turn off his phone in church and can’t even text me, and he told me to call you if I had any problems. Which unfortunately I do. You see –”</p><p>Jasper chuckled. “His sister bite you?”</p><p>There was a short, shocked sort of silence; it made Hannah like Lucy better. “No, of course not – God, Tom’d have your head if he heard you saying that. You sure you’re friends?”</p><p>“Sorry, sorry. I know.” Jasper did sound slightly abashed. “So what’s the issue?”</p><p>“I can’t get in the <em>door</em>, that’s the issue. I’ve never been great with this kind of stuff, but I swear I’ve tried everything at this point, and there’s got to be something wrong with the mechanism. I just can’t.”</p><p><em>LEAN ON IT, </em>said Hannah very loudly inside her head, but of course Lucy could not hear her.</p><p>“You could always break a window.”</p><p>“I’d really rather <em>not </em>–”</p><p>“Yeah. I guess it wouldn’t be the ideal way to meet the parents. Okay, I’ll head over and help you out. I’ll be like five minutes.”</p><p>Hannah could just hear the shit-eating grin in his voice. She knew there was a great deal of respect between him and Tom, but she also knew that he happily took any opportunity to needle her brother, and the idea of meeting his girlfriend before he’d expressly set it up must seem <em>delicious</em>.</p><p>Hannah’s transformed body was perfectly capable of rolling its eyes. She took full advantage of this now, then tried to force her attention back to the TV as Lucy continued to struggle with the keyhole, making atrocious scraping noises. Hannah put her nose to the remote and, with some difficulty, managed to turn the TV off.</p><p><em>Tom and I are going to have a </em>talk <em>tomorrow</em>, she thought. <em>And he is going to be giving me every single piece of chocolate he finds in his stocking. And he’d better have gotten me something </em>good.</p><p>Last year, he’d forgotten about Christmas until the evening before and had given Hannah something pillow-like he’d made out of an old sweatshirt, a random package of toiletries he’d been given on an airplane, and a fourth of a bag of jellybeans. He’d done a very fancy job on the wrapping, as if to make up for it. That, she decided, was <em>not </em>going to fly this time. Not after what he’d already put her through tonight –</p><p>Her thoughts were interrupted by a new presence outside.</p><p>“Hey… Lucy! It’s Jasper. You want to get inside or not? Oh shit – look at you!”</p><p>“It’s been snowing for the past hour,” said Lucy defensively. “It wasn’t in the weather report, so I didn’t bring a hat.”</p><p>“No worries, no worries.” Jasper, who knew perfectly well how to open the Cobhams’ door, seemed to be making a big show of it, because it took another minute before Hannah finally heard it swing open. Then there were footsteps in the hall, and she suddenly remembered what that meant.</p><p>“Hannah?” called Lucy to the house, as if Hannah hadn’t been listening to the whole mess unfold this whole time. “Hannah, it’s Lucy. Tom told me what to do, so please don’t worry. I’m just going to head up to his room – well, maybe I’ll take a shower first.” She paused. “Do they have a coat closet? Or should I leave my stuff on the porch? I don’t want to get their floors all snowy…”</p><p><em>Our floors are beyond help anyway, </em>said Hannah inside her head, but this continued to be an ineffective way to communicate, and now Jasper was talking again.</p><p>“Hannah usually just stays in one room. And she’s super chill – don’t look so nervous. Aren’t you hungry? I mean, you took the early bus from Richmond, right? Have you even had a chance to eat?”</p><p><em>I have the whole house</em>, thought Hannah indignantly, <em>because nobody was supposed to be here except me until Tom ruined it. And I have not been chill about this situation for even one minute, Jasper Kennicott, so don’t you dare act like you know me –</em></p><p>“No,” said Lucy, “but I really don’t want to impede on her – I mean, I don’t want to get in her way, and I told Tom –”</p><p>“We’re ordering pizza,” declared Jasper, like it was his decision to make. “Christmas present from me to you. Hannah’s probably just in her bedroom anyway. We’ll eat, and we can get to know each other, and then I’ll let you do your thing.”</p><p>At least Lucy was making the effort to whisper. “Tom said she was in the living room…”</p><p>“Oh. Damn.” He paused and then called, “Hi, Hannah!” as if he expected her to respond in some way. “Eh, it’s fine. Like I said, she’s chill.”</p><p><em>NO, </em>thought Hannah, <em>I AM NOT</em>, but regrettably, telepathy was still not an option. She tried to turn the TV on again, to let them know that she <em>was </em>in the living room and that they were not to come in, but she ended up letting the remote-control crash onto the floor instead. The sound echoed through the house; she could tell they had heard it. Fine; she would capitalize on that. There were some spare housekeys on the coffee table, so she pushed them off, too. They clattered very nicely.</p><p>A brief silence. “That… was that her?”</p><p><em>YES</em>, thought Hannah. <em>I DID IT IN PROTEST.</em></p><p>“Do you think she dropped something? Would it help if I… does she need help, do you think?”</p><p>“Better leave her,” said Jasper sagely. “Like you said, Tom’s got that overprotective brother thing going on. Better if he doesn’t eat us alive. Or her. Ha.”</p><p>“Mmhmm.” Lucy still did not sound impressed. “Did you order the pizza? I <em>am </em>actually really hungry.”</p><p>“Texted my buddy Roger and asked him to pick it up for us – his parents own the pizza place we usually go to. He also really wants to meet you. Tom’ll approve. Roger keeps us troublemakers in line.”</p><p><em>Amazing, </em>thought Hannah in disbelief. <em>Another person. </em>She usually liked Roger, but this was <em>not the time</em>.</p><p>She thought about how much effort it would take to attempt an SOS sort of text to Andrew or someone whose phone might be <em>on</em>, and what her chances of typing something remotely legible might be. Low, she thought. Very low. If her last attempt – to a friend at college who’d just been dumped, when immediate action had been needed – was any indication, it would read something like SDDEFVCES JGSIKOY SDNFGBI WJPTJ!!!!!, which was no help at all. <em>And</em> she’d sent it to her archaeology professor by mistake.</p><p>She might as well try to watch TV again. She eased herself down onto the floor, ignoring the sharp pains in her leg, and struggled with the remote for a full eight minutes before she managed to press the power button and point it vaguely in the right direction at the same time. (Most people were <em>blissfully ignorant </em>of what a disaster life could be without functioning fingers.) Then she had to get herself back on the couch, which wasn’t hard but <em>was </em>painful, and she was altogether even more irritated than she had been earlier when Roger arrived – with his boyfriend, James, and several bottles of prosecco.</p><p>“He brought them as a gift for my parents, but I forgot that they’ve gone all Prohibition these days,” said Roger, who seemed to be have decided to pour the prosecco into glasses before even putting the pizza on the table. “So you’re Lucy? You looked just the way he described you.”</p><p>“I didn’t realize he’d <em>described </em>me,” said Lucy, and Hannah could just imagine the pinkness in her cheeks. “Should there really be this many people in the house? I mean, it’s so nice of you to bring the pizza and the alcohol, Roger – and it’s great to finally meet you – but –”</p><p>“Hey, it’s me who’s going to make sure that <em>he </em>leaves,” said Roger, apparently motioning to Jasper. “I just thought it would be fun to do a little Christmas toast while we were here. That, and my folks are driving James up the wall. They keep asking him <em>questions</em>.”</p><p>“They mean well! They’re really nice!” said James. “They can be a little… enthusiastic, though.”</p><p>“Look, Roger,” said Lucy. “You’re being really kind. It’s just that Tom told me that I needed to go to his room and shut the door when I got here – you know, because of his sister – and this is the first time I’m meeting <em>his </em>parents, and I don’t want them to think –”</p><p>“I promise we’ll be long gone by the time they get back,” said Roger. “Cross my heart. Let’s have a toast! To Lucy!”</p><p>“To Lucy!” shouted Jasper and James, and Lucy giggled, which made Hannah feel a little betrayed. Giggling sounded an awful lot like giving in.</p><p>***</p><p>For the next half hour, Hannah listened in disbelief, fully unable to focus on anything that was happening onscreen, while the impromptu party polished off the pizza and opened the second bottle of wine.</p><p>She wasn’t sure she had ever been so annoyed. She wasn’t only going to <em>talk </em>to Tom once she turned back – oh, no. A certain number of ultimatums were going to be involved. There were going to have to be <em>reparations.</em></p><p>The DVD display read eleven o’clock. Still another full hour of this. She cursed Tom, everyone he knew, and everyone he ever would know. She even cursed his ancestors, despite the fact that they were her ancestors as well.</p><p>“…and then he tried to wear it <em>as a hat!</em>”</p><p>Jasper’s impossibly loud voice ended in a screech of laughter that made Hannah’s head ache worse than it already did. She barely had time to question why it had suddenly increased so dramatically in volume when the reason became clear.</p><p>“Oh, hel-<em>lo!” </em>He was drunk out of his mind (Hannah had always suspected he was a lightweight), and he had waltzed, beaming, into the living room as though he thought she would welcome him. “Look, look, it’s Hannah! It’s Hannah while she’s being a werewolf! Hannah, it’s so great to <em>see</em> you! Even if it’s like this! How have you <em>been?”</em></p><p>She could only stare at him. What was he expecting? A hug?</p><p>“Oh, fuck. Fuck, no. Jasper? <em>Jasper?</em> For fuck’s <em>sake </em>–”</p><p>Lucy came running in, which would have been helpful, except that now there were <em>two </em>people-who-were-not-family in the room, which was just about the most uncomfortable thing that could happen during what Topher liked to call “a time for some goddamn privacy.”</p><p>She was able to get a good look at Lucy, though – for the first time, if you didn’t count all the Facebook stalking she had done over the past few weeks. She looked pretty much the way she did online – close-cropped hair dyed whatever color she’d decided on this month (Hannah would have to identify it in the morning), a pointed chin, and a long, freckled nose. She did seem a good bit smaller in real life, though. She’d be more than a head shorter than Tom, standing by his side. It would be unbearably cute, Hannah thought.</p><p>“Jasper, oh my God! You literally cannot be in here! That was the <em>one</em> thing we agreed on! Tom – fucking hell, Tom is going to kill you! And me! And I don’t even know what his parents are going to do to us!”</p><p>Suddenly seeming to realize that she should, she turned to Hannah. By the awkward way she smiled, Hannah could tell she’d never been in the same room as a transformed werewolf before. Then again, few people had. (As far as Hannah knew, Jasper hadn’t either, but he was still taking it in stride; he was now looking at one of Tom’s baby pictures on the wall and laughing to himself.)</p><p>“I am so sorry. I am <em>so </em>sorry, Hannah,” said Lucy, now with obvious panic in her voice. “I’m going to make them leave now. They’re going to go home, and I’m going to go to bed, and I will beg for your forgiveness for literally the whole day tomorrow, and – and –”</p><p>Well, <em>that </em>was no good. Hannah had wanted Lucy to like her, not fear her retribution. That part was reserved for Tom.</p><p>She sighed – in her head, because out loud would sound a little more feral than she thought either of them were prepared for – and rolled her eyes. The most human signal the wolf’s body could manage, and a perfect representation of her feelings right now.</p><p>Lucy took an abrupt step back, apparently unconvinced of what she had just seen. Hannah gave another mental sigh and stuck out her tongue. None of this was dignified in the least, and she absolutely loathed making the wolf do reassuring little movements in order to appease other people. But she knew that it was either this or having Lucy tiptoe around her for the remainder of her trip. And there were things that were worse than Jasper Kennicott ruining her evening.</p><p>Lucy’s jaw dropped. “Are you… sassing me?”</p><p>Wolves had eyebrows, and with a little effort, they could raise them. Hannah cocked her head and nodded.</p><p>“For some stupid reason, I didn’t consider that you could actually <em>communicate </em>right now,” said Lucy. “Damn. I am so sorry. This is all my fault.”</p><p>Hannah shook her head and looked hard at Jasper. Then she raised the wolf’s eyebrows again.</p><p>“Okay, if we’re being real with each other, then yeah,” said Lucy, smiling slightly. “It’s his fucking fault. But still. I did let it happen.”</p><p>This time Hannah nodded. Lucy could stand to feel a <em>little </em>guilty.</p><p>“Jasper? Lucy?” called Roger from the hallway. “Did you go into the living room?”</p><p>“Blame Drunk Jasper and his lack of impulse control,” Lucy called. “But it’s fine. Hannah’s fine. I’m making him leave. And you guys should leave, too – pronto. It’s just about midnight.”</p><p>“Oh heck, yeah. It is.” Roger’s face appeared around the corner of the wall; Hannah supposed it had only been a matter of time. “Oh my God, has she been watching <em>It’s a Wonderful Life? </em>I love that movie.”</p><p>“I think so, but like I said, I’m making him <em>leave. </em>Also, I’m pretty sure it’s almost over.”</p><p>It was. George Bailey’s friends and neighbors were gathered at his house, unaware of how deep his grief had run, ready to celebrate his lifetime of good deeds and save him from ruin. They had burst into song – “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” – in voices a little more grating than Hannah would have preferred just now. Jasper, who had finally grown bored with the Cobham family baby pictures, sat himself down next to Hannah and began to sing along. Hannah, feeling a new bubble of barely suppressed rage, turned her head to glare at him.</p><p>“See?” said Jasper happily. “I told you she was chill.”</p><p>At that, of course, Roger and James both came in, assuming Hannah was fine with this, and settled themselves on the floor. And then, somehow, she found herself watching the final moments of the film surrounded by her brother’s friends, listening to them laugh and joke and argue over whether Zuzu was cute or obnoxious. Maybe it was the alcohol – maybe it had helped them ease up a bit around her – but Hannah had certainly had <em>more </em>awkward full moons, and those had involved her own parents.</p><p>She lay back, resigned to her fate, and decided that things could have gone a lot worse. In fact – if she was being fully honest with herself – this was <em>almost </em>kind of nice.</p><p>Then, just as George Bailey’s friends began a rousing chorus of “Auld Lang Syne,” there came a familiar sound in the driveway.</p><p>Inside her head, Hannah smirked just a little bit.</p><p>“Fuck! Fuck!” <em>Now </em>Jasper was panicked. He dove off of the sofa and made to race into the dining room – presumably to clean up the pizza boxes and wine glasses and whatever else they’d left in there – but Lucy got up and grabbed him by the wrist. She seemed surprisingly strong for someone so petite.</p><p>“No,” she said. “We’re in for it now, and we’re not going to get out of it; it’s too late. If you <em>want</em> to run around and look like a dickhead teenager who threw a house party when his parents were out of town… but that’s not going to get us anywhere. No, we stay right here, and we are going to be up front about what we’ve done, and we are going to apologize to the Cobhams. And… and to Tom.”</p><p>She looked a little pale. Hannah’s smugness diminished a little.</p><p>“Look, Daddy!” Zuzu said. “Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings!”</p><p>The door burst open. Tom came running in, looking terrified – he must have seen Roger’s car out front. He was closely tailed by Andrew, who looked almost equally nervous. Hannah’s parents, Gulliver, and Moe followed, and then they were all gathered in the living room doorway, staring in disbelief at the scene that lay before them.</p><p>Roger hastily turned the TV off.</p><p>Hannah lifted one of the wolf’s paws in a wave. She could see a vein working in her father’s forehead, and her mother had covered her mouth in horror.</p><p>“Sooo,” Jasper began, and then both Roger and James were needed to cover <em>his </em>mouth.</p><p>“Let me introduce myself,” said Lucy in a clear voice. “My name is Lucia Franco, I’m Tom’s girlfriend, and I take full responsibility for everything you see here. Not that I planned it, but that doesn’t matter. It happened, and that is unacceptable, and I give you my deepest apologies.”</p><p>She was looking Hannah’s father in the <em>eye.</em> This girl, Hannah thought, had <em>guts</em>.</p><p>Tom, on the other hand, wasn’t looking at his parents or even at Lucy anymore. He was totally focused on his friend, who now seemed to be trying to hide himself under the coffee table. His eyes were daggers. He <em>knew</em>.</p><p>“Jasper,” he said, “get up.”</p><p>Jasper got up. He looked at Tom with eyes like a wounded dog’s. “Lucy got locked out of the house,” he said. “She couldn’t call you. I had to <em>help</em> her.”</p><p>“Right,” said Tom grimly. “Why are Roger and James here?”</p><p>“Sorry about that,” Roger broke in. “We brought them a pizza, and some prosecco as a present, and we stayed a little longer than we planned –”</p><p>“You called Roger and told him to bring food and alcohol,” Tom translated, still staring at him. “You wanted to have a little party and get to know Lucy without me around to ruin it. You are such a great friend. Top-notch. You’ll be the best man at my wedding someday.”</p><p> “I’ll write a speech and everything,” said Jasper, puffing his chest out.</p><p>“Fuck. <em>Fuck. </em>Get out. Just get out. Roger and James, you too.”</p><p>“No. First things first,” said Hannah’s father, his deep voice surprising all of them. “Are you okay, Hannah?”</p><p>Hannah nodded at him.</p><p>“<em>She </em>didn’t have any alcohol, did she?” said Hannah’s mother, and she knew she was remembering an incident at a wedding, years and years ago, that Hannah usually tried to forget.</p><p>“She seems to be doing fine. Not thrilled with us, obviously, but fine – and of course not,” said Lucy, her voice still firm. “Hannah was here in this room all evening; we only joined her in the last hour. The night progressed… in some unexpected ways. I had every plan to go to bed early, but after I struggled with the front door, the situation changed. I’m sorry. I hope that I can work to earn your forgiveness.”</p><p>“I’m glad Hannah is safe,” said Mr. Cobham. “Are all of <em>you </em>safe? Generally speaking – and I know Hannah agrees with me – it can be a dangerous thing to spend an evening with a transformed werewolf if you don’t know all the details of that person’s medical record. Coming in here the way you did was not… was not well-advised. And Lucy, I know that Tom told you what to do when he called you.”</p><p>That vein was still moving around under his skin. Maybe, Hannah considered, she had inherited some of her rage-suppressing skills from her father. She was using them right now, listening to him.</p><p>“All of us are completely fine,” said Lucy. “I am so sorry. I am so incredibly sorry.”</p><p>“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” said Tom, suddenly striding forward and putting his arm around her. “Mom. Dad. When Jasper makes up his mind about something, it’s pretty much impossible to change it. Lucy had no chance. I’m sure she tried everything she could to stop him.”</p><p>That wasn’t <em>quite </em>true, but Hannah wouldn’t have said anything even if she could have.</p><p>Tom continued, “If Jasper decided he was going to make a party out of letting Lucy in the damn <em>door</em>, I don’t blame her for that. I don’t know how they all ended up in here with Hannah; you can bet I’m going to chew Jasper’s ear off about that when he’s sober. But please don’t blame her. She’s trying to take responsibility for something that isn’t her fault. She’s a good person. Maybe the best I know.”</p><p>He tried to kiss her then, which was not great timing; Hannah could tell that Lucy was grateful for Tom’s support, but she was focusing all of her efforts on trying to get through to his parents, and – well, there was a <em>time </em>and <em>place </em>for everything, as Tom had frequently been told as a child. Lucy kissed him back, but her eyes were still on the Cobham parents.</p><p>“Well, this is awkward,” said Gulliver, and went off to bed, followed hastily by Moe.</p><p>Their parents took longer to reach a conclusion. Their eyes moved from Hannah to Jasper to Roger and James to Lucy, and they still looked a little bit stunned. Then – maybe borne out of a sense of goodwill-to-men that several hours as church captives had instilled in them – Hannah’s father said, “It’s Christmas.”</p><p>“And everyone is safe and healthy,” said Hannah’s mother.</p><p>“And I think I believe my son, even if he hasn’t <em>always</em> given me good reason to in the past.” Hannah’s father nodded at Tom, who reddened. “We’re glad to meet you, Lucy. We’re not glad to meet you in this <em>way, </em>of course, but I understand that sometimes, things… just… happen.” He waved at the room and shook his head. “It had better not happen again.”</p><p>“Do you mind if we – can we leave?” said Roger, grabbing James by the hand. “I actually didn’t mean to stay this late…”</p><p>“Yes. Yes, fine. Probably best if all of you boys go. As long as you won’t be driving under the influence.”</p><p>“James didn’t drink, and Jasper always walks – although I think we’d better drop him off, just to be safe. We’re all set.”</p><p>And they were out the front door faster than Hannah would ever have imagined that a group of college boys could move.</p><p>Hannah decided that this was probably a good time to drag the wolf’s body up the stairs and go to bed. It seemed like things were only going to get more awkward from here on out, and it was high time she had some peace and quiet.</p><p>She stuck out her tongue at Lucy – and Tom – one more time on the way. Just so that they knew that this still wasn’t <em>completely </em>over.</p><p>***</p><p>The next morning, the contents of three Christmas stockings, several hastily printed gift certificates, and a breakfast tray outfitted with pancakes, hot chocolate, and copious amounts of bacon found their way into Hannah’s bedroom. They were brought by the most sheepish-looking Tom Hannah had ever seen, accompanied by Lucy, who looked like she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep.</p><p>“Ah,” said Hannah, when they arrived. “My loyal servants are here at last.”</p><p>“We are,” said Tom seriously. “We have come to grovel.”</p><p>“And beg,” said Lucy. “For forgiveness.”</p><p>Hannah pretended to think. “Hmm. I’ll consider it. What have you brought me?”</p><p>They laid out their treasures on her night table. Hannah examined each of them in turn. She was amazed to see that they did not seem to have removed anything from their own stockings. Tom was a fiend for the chocolate oranges their father added each year.</p><p>“Your gifts have pleased me,” she said. “You will escape my ire. For now.”</p><p>“Really, Hannah,” said Tom. “I’m sorry. I should have known that giving Lucy Jasper’s number as a backup was the world’s worst idea. And I forgot about the door. And I was an asshole to you anyway, asking you to let me do this when you didn’t actually get to say yes or no.”</p><p>“You were,” said Hannah, unwrapping the first chocolate orange and nibbling at it. “Yes. Did I think about all the ways I might dismember you after you got home? Of course. But honestly, it was kind of fun by then. Very Hallmark. Even that awkward meet-the-parents moment. Not that you are ever allowed to do this again. Ever. Literally ever.”</p><p>Tom was looking longingly at the chocolate orange. Hannah ate the piece she was working on even more slowly. His mouth gave a nervous twitch.</p><p>“Did you… I mean, I know you didn’t get much of a chance to actually <em>meet </em>Lucy, but… did you…”</p><p>“Tom!” Lucy hissed.</p><p>Hannah laughed. “Are you asking me if I approve of your romantic choices, Thomas Cobham? In <em>front </em>of your romantic choice?”</p><p>“You don’t actually have to –”</p><p>“Shut up and watch me eat your Christmas present. I like her. So there.”</p><p>Tom turned his head sharply. “You do?”</p><p>She chucked half of the chocolate orange in his direction; he was so stunned that he almost didn’t catch it. “You being an asshole and Jasper Kennicott being an asshole do not equal Lucy being an asshole, Tom. Although she does need to get better at telling people to peace out and leave me alone. You should work on that, Lucy. Stat.”</p><p>“I – I will,” said Lucy.</p><p>“Good,” said Hannah. “And now’s a great time, because I want to eat this –” She motioned at the breakfast they’d brought her. “—and go back to sleep for a few hours before I do the whole presents-under-the-tree thing. Because I’ve only had my body back since, like, seven-thirty, and I <em>deserve </em>a <em>nap.</em>”</p><p>“You do,” said Lucy hastily. “Of course you do.”</p><p>“Good-bye, faithful sycophants,” said Hannah, waving them off. “I hope you have learned something this Christmas. Go forth and be festive. I must sleep.”</p><p>They left, and they even remembered to shut the door. Hannah was impressed.</p><p>Before she went back to sleep, she remembered to take a selfie for Topher – a tradition they’d started a couple years ago, after trading barbs about who looked worse after a full moon. Normally, Hannah tried to exaggerate her features, making herself look as pathetic and sickly as possible in order to beat Topher’s attempts. This time, though, she positioned her face right in the middle of the spoils she’d been brought, looking very much like the cat who got the cream. She sent him a shortened and only <em>slightly </em>embellished version of the previous night’s events along with it.</p><p><em>I win, </em>she texted him. <em>You can’t deny that I win.</em></p><p><em>You win, </em>Topher responded. <em>This time.</em></p>
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